


Like Gum Under My Shoe

by Royal_Nugget_42



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Alternate Universe - 1920s, Alternate Universe - Noir, Detective Castiel (Supernatural), Enemies to Lovers, M/M, but the enemies part is mostly for show
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-25
Updated: 2020-07-25
Packaged: 2021-03-05 21:40:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,194
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25502251
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Royal_Nugget_42/pseuds/Royal_Nugget_42
Summary: Detective Castiel Novak has a need to be unshakeable. Dean Winchester has a need to be unpredictable. The both of them have a need to be secretive.But maybe Castiel is tired of hiding.*This little fic is based on art by @crxstalcas on Instagram*
Relationships: Castiel/Dean Winchester
Comments: 6
Kudos: 47





	Like Gum Under My Shoe

He was unshakable. He was efficient, and fearless, and ruthless. He was inhuman. 

Sometimes the things people say about you become your armor, defending you from what would aim to hurt you, and sometimes the words sink into your very skin and bind themselves to your very bones. Some people’s rumors and expectations define you. 

Detective Castiel Novak was a private eye, and had a need to keep the things he hunted at bay. The vile, cruel men lurking in the dark, ensconced in shadow. Murderers and assailants and corrupters of souls, he was their predator. He had a need to become inhuman to them. 

Of course, his reputation didn’t deter all of them, not in the least. And on dark nights before the street lamps were lit he had to watch his back, and his front, and his sides as well. Even a snake fears a rat with numerous friends and nothing to lose. 

One particular rat was giving him trouble, but not the usual kind. Dean Winchester, wanted for most of the crimes in the book. His family was embedded in the city like a parasite. Rats, all of them, clinging to the walls ready to swarm if they got startled. Castiel knew, if he wanted to hurt the Winchesters they’d be on him like fire on a matchstick, burning him down along with anyone he associated with. 

But his family wasn’t a problem for the usual reasons either. And Castiel didn’t have a need to interact with them, so he didn’t. Dean on the other hand, was someone he met fairly often. 

He was supposed to be getting lunch. But he had to run into him. He wondered if Dean was tailing him. It wouldn’t be out of character for him. Normally he would ignore him until it was no longer possible, but today he had something to discuss. 

Dean was behind him as he followed down the street. The next time Castiel rounded a corner, he turned sharply on his heel and waited for him to show up. When he appeared in Castiel’s view he looked startled, but composed himself quick enough. 

“Afternoon, Detective Novak. Goodness we seem to run into each other quite a bit don’t we?” he said innocently. Definitely tailing him then.

“I’m not in the mood for games today, Winchester. You’d better have a good reason for being on my heel.”

“Like gum on the shoe,” he joked.

“Answer my question.” 

Dean stepped into Castiel’s personal space, fitting his hands behind his back. “I gotta have a reason, now?”

He narrowed his eyes. The bastard wouldn’t even deny it, and of course he looked smug as anything about it. But it wasn’t worth it. He just turned away shaking his head. He started walking away, knowing full well Dean would follow him. Would follow him right into Hell if that’s where Castiel was leading him. 

It wasn’t where he was leading him this time, though. He walked into an alley nearby, and when he was sure they’d be completely out of sight he turned and grabbed Dean’s shirt, pushing him up against the brick wall. 

“You know, I was supposed to be getting lunch right about now, but instead I gotta deal with you,” he said, his fists tightening their hold. Dean just let it happen, looking for all the world like he wasn’t the least bit startled, which Castiel supposed he wasn’t. They had done this before, and it always ended the same way. 

“Well I’m here. Question is, what are you fixing to do about it?” he asked. 

Castiel glared and shoved hard, stepping away from him. “Suppose I do nothing? Suppose I just leave you here, and go on my merry way?”

Dean just laughed. “That’d be the day Cas, that’d be the day.”

“I’m serious. Maybe I’m tired of this damn game.”

“If you were, we wouldn’t be here now would we?” he said knowingly. 

He held out for a few seconds under Dean’s smug gaze, but they both knew what came next. Castiel swept one last cursory glance down the alley, then swore. There was only one way to get that stupid grin off Dean’s face. 

The resulting kiss was much more gentle than the prelude to it suggested, because at this point it really was just a facade. For a few moments, the world they lived in disappeared. For the space between breaths Castiel was just a man in love, not a lonely detective with the world against him, and Dean wasn’t part of the most notorious mafia family in the city, he was just the man he was in love with. He tangled his hands in Castiel’s hair and Castiel moved to hold his waist, and they were invincible. 

These were the moments he believed the things people said about him. When he was with Dean, he could stare down a hundred men, a thousand. He felt like if he stomped too hard he could shatter the stones under his feet, felt like he could fly. 

The broke apart, still close, still breathing each other’s air. And they laughed, because it was ridiculous, the posturing, the hiding, kissing in back alleys and shadows where no one was looking. 

“I meant it, you know? I’m tired of all this.”

Dean frowned. “What do you mean?”

“The covert-ness of it all. The sneaking off, the secrets, the lies. And I’m tired of you tailing me because you don’t want me to get hurt.”

Dean scoffed. “Excuse me for being cautious. You do remember how we met right?”

Vividly. Castiel had been on a case and had gotten on the bad side of a man named Alastair. When Dean found him he was bound in the back of a store room at The Rack. 

“That’s exactly my point, though!” he said, running a hand through his hair. “I’m tired of this life, sleeping with one eye open and never being sure who to trust.”

“Me too,” Dean admitted. “But there’s not much we can do about it is there?”

“There is. We could leave. Just go out into the countryside, somewhere less crowded.” Dean shook his head as Castiel pressed on. “I’ve got some money put away. We could just—“

“It’s not that simple, Cas.”

“But it is. Your family might run this city but they don’t run the world, Dean.” 

A war was going on in Dean’s mind, but deep down, he’d thought about it before. Just taking off, following his little brother to California. He’d just never had a good enough reason to leave. But now...

He pulled Castiel toward him and kissed him again, softly, like he was sure he would dissolve in front of him like a mirage. Not for the first time he wondered how he got so damn lucky, that not only did he find Castiel, but Castiel found him, and accepted him and...and loved him. 

Castiel looked at him with those eyes, those lovely, trusting eyes, just like the first time he’d seen him, and he was gone. He’d follow his detective anywhere.

“Ok,” he said, and he felt Castiel smile against his lips.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to @crxstalcas on Instagram for the idea behind this, and thank you all for reading!


End file.
